Hope Jensen

Hope Jensen (1732-1758) was an American criminal who was the dominant figure of New York City's underworld in the 1750s. She was killed when the British Army assaulted her mansion following her theft of their pay from the fort.

Biography
Hope was born in New York City to a modest family but was placed in an orphanage after her parents died. She was adopted by a German couple who hoped to build a new life for themselves in the colonies. They symbolized this desire by naming their adopted daughter Hope. Years of hard work finally paid off for Hope's father, who saw his business endeavors turn great profits, and her family rubbed elbows with New York's elite. But despite their wealth and best efforts to fit in, they were never truly accepted in New York's finer circles.

Hope received a good education from private tutors and gradually realized that the world was unfair. In 1742, Hope's adopted father disappeared under mysterious circumstances, never to be seen again. Later that same year, her father's former business partners took control of the family business, leaving her adopted mother with nothing. Hope and her mother became destitute, forced to live on the streets. Hope's mother died after a long and painful disease, despite Hope's best efforts at stealing food and medicine. Hope vowed never to depend on anyone again.

In 1746, Hope met Achilles Davenport, who was impressed by her survival instincts, pickpocketing skills, and strength of will. She was inducted into the Assassin Order a year later. Achilles ordered her to set up a network in New York City, and before long, Hope controlled most of New York's organized crime.

By 1752, she was a Master Assassin. She was placed in charge of training new recruit Shay Cormac in fighting, and although he was often late to practice, she believed that he had so much potential. Hope was sad when she found out that Shay had stolen the Voynich Manuscript from Achilles after Achilles indirectly caused him to trigger a deadly earthquake in Lisbon in 1754, and Hope asked him to come back. However, as the assassins chased him, Shay fled, and he was believed dead after he was shot and fell into the icy river below.

When Shay recovered, he woke up in New York City, having been taken care of by Barry and Cassidy Finnegan, whose son was a later protege of Templar Order member Colonel George Monro. With the help of Shay, the Templars gradually liberated New York from the Assassins, wiping out some of Hope's gangs in the process. The Warehouse Gang of Darrin Hilger and the Waterfront Gang of Jacob Cumberworth were both wiped out in 1757-1758 by Shay's hand, and Shay also destroyed a factory where she manufactured poisoned gas. Shay put the final nail in the coffin when he and Jack Weeks stole the British Army's pay from their fort while in Assassin outfits, making the British Army focus on eliminating Hope's gang. They surrounded her East Village mansion, and Hope made her last stand. She poisoned Shay when he infiltrated the mansion and shot him with a poisoned dart when he escaped - Shay had to keep moving in order to stop his heart from slowing. Shay eventually caught up to her in a rooftop chase, and while she was on the street and Shay was on a roof, Shay jumped from the roof and pushed her to the ground. He stabbed her in the upper chest with his hidden blades, mortally wounding her. Hope was sad that things had to turn out that way, considering that he had great potential. She told him that she bought time for fellow Assassin Liam O'Brien to escape and for the Chevalier de la Verendrye to head to the Precursor Site. Her death caused Shay sadness, but he had to kill her in order to end the Colonial Assassins.